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End of the (Cross)-road

Crossroads announces it will close at the end of school year

Crossroads High/Junior High School students and teachers wave goodbye to their school in Tiskilwa. Crossroads will close its doors permanently at the end of this school year.

TISKILWA — Crossroads High School/Junior High will close its doors permanently at the end of this school year.

Founder and principal Andrea Horst said the school does not have enough students and resources to continue.

“We knew from the beginning that it would take 35 students for us to be sustainable over the long run. We reached 28 students last year; but we are back down to 20 this year, and we don’t see that we will be able to increase significantly in the year ahead,” she said. “Unfortunately, the demographics of this community are not able to support a school such as ours.”

Students’ last day of school this year will be Wednesday, May 24. Crossroads will be having a sale of its assets on Saturday, June 3, from 8 a.m. to noon at the Reagan School in Tiskilwa.

Crossroads has offered a classical Christian education to students from Bureau County and beyond.

Two of its programs Horst was most proud of were the drama and Latin programs, which every student was required to take.

In drama, Horst said she would see some students start out timid and unsure of themselves, but by the time they were juniors and seniors, they were taking on main roles and reciting hundreds of lines.

In Latin, most students went into it with fear and trepidation, she said.

“By the end of the second year, when they found out they could do it, it took work, but (they) could overcome that fear and receive a sense of accomplishment that they worked hard at something and achieved it,” Horst added.

Beth Jones, a full-time teacher at the school for all seven years, said it’s been a privilege to invest in the lives of the students and see them grow to maturity.

“We do not regret one minute of the work and resources we put into this school,” she said.

Crossroads first opened in 2010 in the former bank building in downtown Tiskilwa. In 2014, the school then moved to the former Reagan School in Tiskilwa and rented space from Princeton Elementary School (PES) District.

With the announcement of the school closing, Horst thanked PES Superintendent Tim Smith and his school district for allowing Crossroads to rent space within the school for the past three years.

“It’s had been an ideal space for us,” she said.

Horst also thanked the many individuals and community groups who supported Crossroads with donations throughout the years.

“We would not have made it this long without (their) support,” she said.

Having to close Crossroads was an emotional decision to make for Horst, but she said she does not feel like the school is a failure.

“I feel that we served 50 students for seven years. I know that they have all received a good education. I think what we did, we did well,” she said.